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Dale M. Houstman
Dale Michael Houstman (born September 13, 1950) is an American surrealist poet, songwriter, and visual artist, and a contributor to Usenet newsgroups alt.arts.poetry.comments, rec.arts.poems and rec.music.beatles. Life Houstman was born in King's Lynn, a medium-sized town in Norfolk, England on the River Great Ouse. It is part of the King's Lynn and West Norfolk district. He has since revisted his birthplace, and observed that it was (as expected) quaintly pretty, although polluted by an ugly shopping mall. This is not an uncommon process in the world.Dale M. Houstman, The Full Wiki. Web, Dec. 11,2013. He never knew his real father. When he was 5 his mother, Joyce, married an American soldier, Delten, who brought the family to the Mojave Desert, California the following year. They moved to Germany when he was 10, and later to Maryland, where he lived until he left home in 1972.DMH 1999, Life and Times, December 1999, Cafe Society. Web, Sep. 24, 2016. He has lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota since 1972. However, he believes that where he lives is of little consequence to what he is or hopes to be, especially as he has lived in many different places, none of which have a "nostalgic" hold on his imagination. As an "army brat" he had moved frequently in his youth, and lived in the Mojave Desert, Germany, and Maryland. He has also traveled frequently, most dramatically via hitchhiking, through the U.S. and Europe. He is the author of over 20 books of poems, including Alice Is Talking Again, If Not Fully-Lit Lift Latch, The Appetites, Nagger, and Short Grace Pass. In addition, he has produced countless images in various media, is working on two surrealist novels (The Tulsa Mini-Lion and The Case of the Auto-Congealing Oxygen), writes and records songs with his comrades in the Blue Feathers Surrealist group, and is one of the co-editors of the surrealist publication Blue Feathers. Houstman was once a frequent contributor of poetry and commentary in Usenet poetry newsgroups, although of late - due to the growth of pointless contention in such groups, he has curtailed such participation, instead limiting his web "presence" (such as it is) to the creation of a web-site entitled Ghost Posters and Borborygmae which includes satire, images, poetry, and various other projects. Among his various interests are "avant-garde" poetry, science fiction, film, music (of almost any kind), science, and anything which tends to challenge/critique/destroy the "as-is" of the accepted "common sense" of the world. He believes modern employment is a prison meant to keep the consumer in close proximity to the merchants, and that religious "thought" is the single largest chain upon human imagination and potential. Writing In real terms, Houstman considers all his poetry and art to be secondary to breaking the bonds which tie the human race to their worst impulses, and finds value in his work only insofar as it lends support to revolutionary actions and processes. He continues to view Surrealism as the one technology available to lead the human race away from its own diminishment into a laboring hive mind, trapped in mestatizing capitalism. To say that he finds disappointment at the path of the world is a very real understatement. Yet he has always found creative action to be the one consistent method of revitalization. As an example of his thoughts on Surrealism, the following is offered... :There is NO division between “Surrealist Art” and “Surrealist Thought”, between “Surrealist Action” and “Surrealist Dreams”, except as it exists in the minds of those who wish to benefit from this division at the expense of the Surrealist Movement. As long as those who only see surrealism as a conduit of “artistic expression” lay claim to its nomenclature, they will find themselves liable to intervention by those who KNOW surrealism in her full “blossom”: as a weapon against all complacencies, including that of people who settle for being mere artists in a world that demands transformation. IF surrealism is to be present in and (much more importantly) enactive of a world ready for that transformation, then it is important -- and will always be important -- that it be clearly presented. It is true, the ugly notion that surrealism can be embraced as a set of techniques is widespread. If we cannot hope to erase all such misrepresentations, at least we are not ready to allow the misconceptions we encounter to stand AS FACT. :Dale Michael Houstman/Barrett John Erickson, August 2002 Publications *''Alice is Talking Again''. Beside the Point Press, 1983. See also *AAPC poets *List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *"In a Nearby City (Pockets on Coffee)" *2 Houstman poems on aapc: "Pot Holder Day," "While sporking through a pile of poo" *Dale Houstman - 3 poems at Peculiar Momyrid *Surrealist Poetry: intro & 3 poems at Poetry Life and Times (scroll down) ;About *This article uses Creative Commons-licensed text from "The Full Wiki", 2009. Category:1950 births Category:21st-century poets Category:American poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Surrealist poets Category:20th-century poets Category:AAPC poets